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There is nothing keeping someone from putting a cache near a business other than the permission guideline. As long as the cache does not advertise that business, or use its name for the cache name it shouldn't violate the commercial guideline. British pub names are not, usually, business names. The name stays with the pub when it changes owners and the business is, usually, in the owner/landlord's name. Most people would not consider using a pub name to be any form of advertising, pubs are as much landmarks as anything else.

My worst "items in a cache" finds have been fireworks, and, in a cache in a family picnic area, a chisel. My best find was an ammo box near a US Interstate where the majority of the trade items were road maps that were relevant to the areas accessable from that road.

That's because the datum point for the Ordinance Survey (OSGB36) is 49°N,2°W and the datum for WGS84 is the Earth's centre of mass. The Ordinance Survey and GPS were designed with very different objects in mind. GPS was designed by the United States Air Force to provide a world wide positioning capability, while the OS was, originally, designed by the British Army to help suppress Jacobite rebellions.

In my pre-geocaching days I was walking in Derbyshire's Peak District, in England, and took a liquid lunch at a pub. Soon after leaving the pub I saw a pair of wallabies!! My first thought was, "Wow that's good beer!" I later discovered that they were from a feral population that had started after some escaped from a zoo during the Second World War. Since starting geocaching my wildest encounter has been a rabbit, but he was mean looking

Hi The 100m error is a classic symptom of having the GPS set to the wrong map datum in the UK. You need to use Lat/Long on the WGS84 map datum. If you've set the units 'position format' to Hdd°mm.mmm (lat long degrees decimal minutes that geocaching uses) you need the map datum set to WGS84. If you've left the datum on Ordnance Survey GB then that is actually WGS36 and that gives the 100m error. You can run the GPSr on OSGB if you want but you must set both the position format and datum to OSGB. The reason we use Lat/Long on cache pages is that it is 'universal'. The OS grid reference you refer to is UK specific and only found on the paper based (or digital PC version) OS maps. Someone in Germany for example wouldn't have a clue what the OS Grid Reference is but they would know Lat/Long. The cache page displays the OSGB grid for our benefit in the UK. Any additional waypoints that are displayed on the cache page (parking, stages etc) are not converted. If you download the waypoints into your GPS from the cache page or via a Pocket Query you'll get them in Lat/Long degrees decimal minutes and that is the best setting to leave your GPSr on. Re the eastings and northings. The grid reference shown on a cache page (example N 51° 35.547 W 002° 44.586 British Grid ST 48621 88443) is correctly shown. The first group of 5 digits is the easting and the second group the northing. This is more usually written as two groups of 3 (ST 486 884). The 5 digits take you down to 1 meter. Example: S (500Km square) T (100Km square) 4 (10Km) 6 (1km) 6 (100m) 2 (10m) 1 (1m). You can check this on an excellent website that uses the Streetmap OS maps <a href="http://benchmarks.org.uk/map.php?&scale=50&bm&c=" target="_blank">http://benchmarks.org.uk/map.php?&scale=50&bm&c=</a> by entering the lat/long and the OSGB. They show the same location.* Hope this helps. Chris (MrB) UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk * Thanks to Gary and Jane for this excellent link to Streetmap Thanks for the explanation. I have an Etrex set to WGS84 and Hdd°mm.mmm. Strangely when I change the options to use the OS Grid (which I would like to do, as I am teaching my daughter to use maps and read grid references) then the GPS changes the very last digit in one of the coordinates. So, a few questions.... 1) Why does my gps change the coordinates when I change from one system of coordinates to another? 2) Is lat/long more accurate than OSGrid? 3) What degree of accuracy is lost if the very last digit in the coordinates changes? 4) Is it fair to assume that the hider used lat/long to log the cache? 1) If you shift from one map system to another the GPSr will move to the nearest coordinate in the new system, as the two systems use different data they never quite match up. 2) On paper, no, but on a GPSr yes. The GPSr is designed to work with lat/long on the WGS84 datum, the OS grid ref position shown is an estimate based on the lat/long. 3) About a metre. 4) The cache should be logged with the WSG84 datum. PS Take a look at the altitude difference between the OS map and the GPSr(WSG84) reading. The GPSr reads about 100 feet higher than the map.

I carry a Swiss Army knife. Just a couple of blades, a can opener, screwdriver, pliers, tooth pick, blow torch and cricket bat. Not a multi-tool, but I find my torch (flashlight) to be about the most useful thing I carry, after the GPSr. Even in daylight it's useful to shine into dense undergrowth to see if anything reflects back.

This kind of outfit backfired on me a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for a micro near a bridge in the centre of a small village. There was a lot of muggle activity so I slipped on the orange vest that I wear at work. Seemed to work at first, but then someone noticed my company's logo on my back and started to ask why a railway worker was showing so much interest in a village that is miles away from a railway line?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/popular I think the fifth definition of "popular" is what you are referring to: "prevailing among the people generally" which talks to frequency. I was referring to either of the first two definitions "favor, approval, or affection", which indeed speaks to whether a cache is "better", which of course is a matter of opinion. So I'll state it in a way that we can agree upon. The frequency of finds on a cache does not make it a "better" cache. Do we agree? Yes

Heathens!!! Proper whisky doesn't have an E before the Y !!!! Absolutly correct, old boy! And, while I'm buying my whisky, I can grab that nano in the car park. I am considering hiding a series of nanos in pub cark parks

http://www.ukgeocachers.co.uk/ Is a real shop, but a long way from Surrey. I realise that this is no help at all, but I just wanted to point out the existance of at least one real shop.

I got into geocaching because my Nokia 5800 cell phone has a GPSr. I added ViewRanger software so that it would read British Ordinace Survey maps, and their overseas equivalents. That led me into geocaching. I find the Nokia to be accurate and when used in assisted GPS mode the data download is tiny. You need assisted in town but switching it off out of town only slows up the first lock, the accuracy is about the same. This could be important if I use it outside of the UK when data roaming charges would apply. The only downside is the Nokia's screen is fragile. For that reason I always use a lanyard and, if there is any danger of getting wet, the phone goes into a freezer bag. I am not "yet" an experienced cacher and I may change my mind later, but so far this has worked well even under England's cloudy winter skies.

Do you have the language skills to explain your geocaching activity to a local cop? Not a problem in the UK as we speak something close to a common language but it might be an idea to print off a cache note in the local lingo for anywhere else you may visit, at least that will help explain things to anyone who gets suspicious of you. BTW Data transfer to mobile devices can be expensive in the UK but there are lots of free Wi-Fi hotspots in the major towns and cities. Have a good trip

I haven't been at this long enough to have encountered "The Old Bill" but the thread got me thinking. Obviously I will do most of my caching in the UK, and I usually vacation in the USA, where they speak a language that is very close to English ; certainly closer than they speak in some English counties. My travels sometimes take me to parts of Europe where my command of the local tongue is usually just enough to buy a beer. I would like to do some caching on my travels, but what if I get pulled by some foreign cop? Maybe it would be a good idea to printout a stash label in the local language to handover if questioned.

It did once cross my mind to place a cache within sight of my place of work, which is not near any water, and give it the scuba attribute, just to watch for people turning up in scuba gear. Later, when I sobbered up, I realised it was stupid, childish and likely to get me banned. So, don't drink and cache or the Frog may strike

I used to be an avid walker, but seemed to have lost the habit in recent years, and, many years ago, I was into orienteering. So I pride myself on my map reading skills. As such I had little interest in SatNav or GPS, still preferring something printed on paper, and besides, there was always the fun of watching the wife trying to fold a map. Then I got a cell phone with built in GPS, didn't use it much, except when on vacation in the USA. Got diverted off an Interstate in Indiana but never found any signs back to the Interstate, GPS saved the day. Had the same thing happen in Minnesota, Nebraska and Rhode Island. I think the USA is a great place but the road signage leaves something to be desired When I upgraded my phone I got one with much better GPS and I also discovered how to put much better maps onto the phone. My doctor had been suggesting that I take more exercise because I'm putting on weight, so I started walking again. This time using British OS maps on my phone. I soon noticed that the altitude on the GPS was way out when compared to the OS map detail. Not surprising, I didn't think that the GPS system would use the same map datum as the Ordinance Survey. Out of interest I looked up GPS on Wikipedia to discover the GPS datum and found a link to Geocaching. That's how I got here. Just wish I had found it a few years ago, I could have been caching in about 20 of the United States. Looked up some places that I have been and found caches right outside of hotels that I have stayed in and one just about 100 yards from my friend's house in Minnesota. These omissions will start to be put right with a visit to Virginia in May.

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